Firearms have been produced with a variety of different designs for storage of ammunition. One popular design incorporates the storage of rounds of ammunition in removable magazines that fit within an aperture of the firearm receiver. The use of such removable magazines provides certain advantages, such as rapidly loading and unloading the firearm with a magazine that may contain a number of rounds of ammunition. Another advantage is allowing a user to carry one or more extra magazines that are also loaded with additional rounds of ammunition.
A magazine is a box with an approximately rectilinear shape that fits through an aperture of the firearm receiver and into the firearm's internal magazine well that has a similar shape and size to that of the magazine. There is typically a close tolerance between the magazine, the aperture, and the internal magazine well, to keep the magazine securely in place in the firearm for safety and dependability. Because of that close tolerance, when a user wants to place a removable magazine through the aperture of the firearm, he typically has to align the magazine precisely with the aperture. If the user is in a stressful environment, however, and especially if time is of the essence, then the proper alignment of the magazine with the aperture can become more difficult and time-consuming. Oftentimes, the user will waste precious seconds while attempting to properly align the magazine with the aperture, and may fumble when trying to align and insert the magazine through the aperture. Examples of stressful environments for the user include organized competitive events, which are generally timed events. Other stressful environments include law enforcement or military use and/or field training exercising.
If the approximately rectangular end of the magazine is offset somewhat from the similarly-shaped aperture, the user will be unable to insert the magazine into the firearm's internal magazine well. The user will then have to reposition the magazine to precisely place the end of the magazine through the aperture. Furthermore, even if the user has placed the end of the magazine through the aperture, the user will need to continue inserting the magazine so that the exterior walls of the magazine remain parallel to the walls of the internal magazine well. If the user instead inadvertently pushes the magazine to one side while beginning the insertion into the internal magazine well, the magazine could temporarily jam against the wall of the internal magazine well.
One prior art solution to this problem is a magazine insertion funnel, an accessory that is semi-permanently installed on the firearm receiver. The magazine insertion funnel incorporates a narrow opening, positioned adjacent to the aperture, and a wide opening that offers a larger target for inserting the removable magazine. Instead of the walls of the magazine insertion funnel residing in planes that are parallel or perpendicular to each other, as are the walls of both the magazine and the internal magazine well, the walls within the typical magazine insertion funnel are angled so that as a magazine is inserted, the interior walls of the funnel get closer to each other, so that magazine is funneled toward the aperture, at the opening to the internal magazine well.
While prior art magazine insertion funnels may offer an improvement over a firearm lacking any accessory for its aperture and internal magazine well, a rapid insertion of a magazine into such a prior art magazine insertion funnel can still lead the magazine to be guided by a sloped interior wall to the opposite wall, rather than being guided into the firearm aperture.
What is needed is an improved magazine insertion funnel that allows for accurate and fast loading of a magazine through the aperture of a firearm into the internal magazine well, while minimizing the need for a user to have to perfectly align the end of the magazine with the similarly sized aperture, and minimizing the need for the user to have to ensure that the walls of the magazine are parallel to the corresponding walls of the internal magazine well. This will help to prevent jamming the magazine upon insertion into the firearm.